Bajaj Auto plans VRS for 1,000 more workers

Abhinaba Das, TNNOct 28, 2002, 03.51am IST

MUMBAI: Bajaj Auto seems to be in a desperate hurry to cut flab. The two-wheeler major has reduced the ranks of its management by around 550, and the next plan on the agenda is to bring down its workforce strength by another 1,000 in the current financial year.

"We have reduced the size of our management staff by around 20% last month. We are currently working on the details to launch another voluntary retirement scheme for our workers soon," Bajaj Auto's president Rajiv Bajaj told ET.

The manpower reduction scheme, if successful, would reduce the company's total strength to around 12,000, as against 23,000 in '93. "We are exploring ways to improve our manpower productivity drastically. We would like to bring down our manpower strength to around 10,000, which would produce around three million two and three wheelers over the next two years. ," Mr Bajaj said.

The two-wheeler major has been focusing on bringing down its workforce, especially at its scooter-making facility near Pune, which has a surplus of 2,000 people. With demand for scooters heading south, the company has been trying to reduce the large manpower base.